


A Star To Steer Her By

by ShayneyL



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen, Post-"Endgame", Prompt Fic, Writer's Month 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:00:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShayneyL/pseuds/ShayneyL
Summary: Voyageris back in the Alpha Quadrant, and Tom Paris is being kicked out of Starfleet.  Harry Kim isn't happy.
Relationships: Harry Kim & Tom Paris
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	A Star To Steer Her By

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's Month 2020, Day 6. The prompt is "ocean."

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Neelix was going around the room, handing out padds. Harry watched him nervously.

Their 40-day quarantine was almost over; _Voyager_ 's crew would soon be released to see their loved ones in person, instead of just over the com. And Starfleet was issuing assignments…and verdicts.

Harry was half afraid Neelix would pass him by, prolonging the suspense, but he had a padd for Harry, as well as one for Tom, sitting beside him. Harry steeled himself, then read the message. And read it again, half in disbelief. Happiness surged through him.

"Good news?" Tom asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I've been promoted. Assignment forthcoming."

"Congratulations, Har. It's long overdue."

"What about you?"

"What I expected," Tom said. "My debt to society is paid in full. I'll be processed for separation, of course, but I'm a free man."

"They're kicking you out?" Harry said, outraged.

"Harry…they can't expect loyal Starfleeters to serve under Maquis rebels. It just wouldn't work."

"But you weren't really a Maquis," Harry protested. "You didn't kill anyone, or blow anything up."

"I just flew the ship for those who did," Tom said drily.

"Couldn't your father pull some strings?"

"He would never do that, and I wouldn't want him to."

Harry had known this was the most likely outcome, but it still seemed so unfair. Tom had done so much for _Voyager_ over the past seven years. "If they kick you out, I'm quitting."

"Whoa, whoa, Harry. Don't even think of doing that."

"Why not?"

"You love Starfleet. You belong there. It's always been your dream. Starfleet was never my dream. It was my father's."

"You…you don't want to be in Starfleet?"

Tom shook his head. "I'm finally getting the chance to chase my real dream. Maybe I'll hate it, but I don't want to die without giving it a shot."

"What's your real dream?"

"The sea," Tom said. "if it were up to me, I'd have joined the Federation Naval Patrol, not gone to Starfleet Academy."

Tom had told him this before, but it hadn't really sunk in. "You really prefer the Naval Patrol to Starfleet?"

"Yeah, Harry, I do. So don't quit in protest, because if they didn't kick me out, I'd leave anyway."

"This is what you really want?"

Tom nodded, grinning. "Friend of mine is in the Naval Patrol. He says I'll have no trouble getting in. He's willing to sponsor me."

"Then…congratulations, Tom. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." He started quoting _Sea Fever_. "I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky. And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by."

"There's plenty of stars in space."

"Not the same, Harry, not the same."


End file.
